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The life course method compares an individual's long-life and late-life behaviors to gauge one's mental decay. Arguing the life course approach is the best and simplest model for tracking mental development, Lawrence J. Whalley unlocks the mysteries of brain functionality, illuminating the processes that affect the brain during aging, the causes behind these changes, and effective coping strategies. Whalley identifies the genetic factors that determine the pace of aging and the behaviors, starting in childhood, that influence how we age. Through vignettes, charts, and tables, he composes an accessible book for patients, family members, and caretakers struggling to make sense of a complex experience.

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In Understanding Brain Aging and Dementia, Whalley examines the brain and its components, elaborates on neural development, and explores the interconnectedness of the body and its environment. His approach assumes non-specialist readers, but he offers a clear and readable social-political-economic backdrop to dementia research. A "life course approach" acknowledges a holistic perspective that takes into account brain development in situ--contextualized in the country, historical period, economics, and war-time environments--and serves (somewhat) to predict outcomes. Whalley maintains that understanding how cortical (brain) networks are built, function, and are maintained is the greatest challenge in biological science, particularly in light of current understandings of early and late onset Alzheimer's disease, in which both genetics and epigenetics play roles in development. The discussion of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is intriguing in two regards: the harnessing of fluid dynamics to view the brain in real time and its potential application in understanding language development and brain mapping. Chapter 6, "The Biology of the Dementias," discusses the uniquely human tau protein and its contribution to vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. Each chapter lends credibility to the life course approach. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- to upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. --Linda R. Barley, York College, CUNY

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Lawrence J. Whalley is emeritus professor of mental health in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Aberdeen and honorary professor of research at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He is the author of three books on brain aging and dementia, including The Aging Brain and Dementia .